The increasing popularity of broadband internet access globally has led to an exponential increase in the adoption of communication methods like video instant messaging and video conferencing. The large variety and easy availability of free communication software from companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype, and America Online which enable video instant messaging and video conferencing also aid in increasing the popularity of such communication methods.
However, the aforementioned software cater primarily for recreational use and does not facilitate convenient desktop sharing. For example, there may be instances during video instant messaging where there may be a need to refer to a point(s) on a graph, and describing the exact point requires identification of coordinates of the point(s) which may not be convenient. Showing a print-out of the graph with the use of an image capture device may suffice, but that depends on the image capture device being able to capture the print-out of the graph in sufficient detail for a receiver to make out what a sender is describing. Thus, high resolution for both the print-out and the image capture device is required to enable video instant messaging to work in the desired manner. Unfortunately, transmission of high resolution images requires the use of greater bandwidth which may not be readily available. Instant file transfer may not be adequate for such instances where data being discussed may be constantly changing.
In addition, video instant messaging usually involves the image capture device capturing an entire area in front of the image capture device. This may be undesirable as the sender may wish to hide/block/obscure certain parts of the area captured by the image capture device or the receiver may wish to view only certain portions of the area captured by the image capture device. That is not possible at the moment with the communication software currently available.